Chapter 11
"You're smiling."
Anya looked up from the body of a 20 year old man at a disbelieving Alexx, who, at that moment, looked as though she'd just been smacked. Perhaps by a cold, wet fish. "You were ten minutes late for the first time since you began, you made at least three wrong incisions that even a beginner in college wouldn't have made, you dropped your scalpel, and you're smiling?"
Anya shrugged, the smile not leaving her face. "Everyone has an off day, Alexx," She said, and far too happily for Alexx's taste. Anya had tried her hardest to concentrate during the autopsy, really she had, but the harder she tried, the more the kiss she and Ryan shared appeared in her head. As for the smile, she hadn't even realized she'd been doing it. It seemed that was just her natural reaction to her thoughts about Ryan. She didn't think she'd be able to get rid of it if she tried.
Alexx scoffed and was about to berate Anya for her horrible performance when a sudden thought struck her, causing her to beam knowingly. "It's Mr. Wolfe, isn't it? You've liked him ever since the first time you stayed with him! Oh, why didn't I see it before?" she laughed, shaking her head at herself.
Anya's smile disappeared, and she looked at Alexx, dumbstruck. "H-how did you know?!"
"Well, come on, Anya. Only a man would put a smile like that on a girl's face." she said with a sly wink.
Anya's face turned beet red. "I didn't mean that! I meant how did you know I stayed at Ryan's?"
"Oh, Ryan, is it? You two are good friends already, I see," Alexx nodded, grinning from ear to ear.
"Alexx," Anya said, warningly.
This brought out a laugh from the older woman who held up her hands in mock defence. "All right, all right. Horatio told me all about it yesterday."
"Oh, yeah," Anya said with a frown. "I guess he did." She chided herself inwardly for forgetting that. Of course Horatio would inform the Alexx about Anya's mistake. She was like a mother to the girl, after all. It hadn't even crossed her mind to tell Alexx about it, and she realized suddenly that she might be a little hurt that she hadn't.
"Alexx, I meant to tell you, really. I wanted to, it's just, I didn't mean to get drunk, and I thought perhaps it was best if you didn't know where I stayed. I didn't want to worry you over nothing…" she said quickly, feeling awful for not opening up to Alexx about the Ryan and her 'date'.
Alexx held up a hand in a placating manner and gave a small smile. "Baby, it's alright. You did the right thing. If you had told me yesterday, I probably would have barged into that evidence like a madman and scared the poor boy to death in questioning him before getting the real story. I understand. Actually, your atrocious performance today made me forget all about it, to tell you the truth," she said, grinning good-naturally.
Anya blushed, running a hand through her long, lustrous hair. "Yeah, sorry about that."
"Yes, well, I suppose I can allow it this one time, but in the future, you must not allow yourself to be distracted." Anya nodded, knowing she was right and feeling a bit foolish because of it. Alexx smiled again as she went back to work. "So…what's he like?" She asked innocently, enough.
Anya stared at her suspiciously for a moment before answering. "He's…nice," she said vaguely.
"Nice?" Alexx asked, eyebrows raised, waiting for her to say more. When Anya simply looked at her, she gestured with her gloved hands for her to go on. "And…?"
"And what?" Anya said, looking anywhere but at her mentor, trying to seem disinterested.
Alexx sighed impatiently. "That's it? Well I knew that much."
Anya fidgeted, feeling uncomfortable. "He's…he's great," she said finally, a small smile on her face. "He's funny, and smart, and brave, and…and great," she shrugged, eyes glued to her feet, feeling her cheeks start to burn.
"Great, huh?" Alexx grinned with a glint of mischief in her eye.
Anya saw this and scowled at Alexx, wishing she'd kept her mouth shut. "Shut up," she mumbled, even more embarrassed.
Alexx laughed loudly. "Forgive me, Anya. I'm sure he's lovely. Now, get going. I'm sure your man is waiting for you so you can eat lunch," she said, pushing Anya towards the door.
Anya's scowl deepened as she sent her grinning mentor a glare, still walking determinedly out the door. "I'm not listening," she said over her shoulder to the increasingly amused Alexx.
Anya began walking down the hall towards the elevator, trying to put as much distance between her and Alexx as possible."Oh Anya!" Alexx shouted from the doorway at Anya's retreating back, unable to resist taunting her a little more. "Give him a kiss for me, would you?" she joked, laughing even more when Anya stopped dead for a split second before continuing on even more quickly.
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Anya yelled, putting her hands over both ears, desperately trying to drown out Alexx's laughter.
"Oh come on, baby! I was only joking!" she yelled, still trying to stop laughing. But Anya had entered the elevator, hands still over her ears.
Alexx chuckled again, wiping some tears of laughter from her eyes. "Kids," she said, shaking her head, laughing all over again when she pictured Anya's scowling face.
She couldn't help but feel proud of Anya. It was written all over the girl's face, even though she probably didn't know it.
The girl was quite taken with Ryan Wolfe.
'It's about time,' Alexx thought with a happy smile before pulling out the body's liver.
It's about time…
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Anya quickly found Ryan in the DNA lab. She knocked on the door frame and smiled when he looked up. "Hey," he said. "Ready for lunch?"
Anya grinned. "I'm staving!"
"I got the perfect place." He said, pulling off his lab coat.
Twenty minutes later found them walking down the beach with an ice cream cone in Anya's hand. She was laughing at a story that Ryan was telling about his best friend from his childhood. "Don't look so surprised. I did have a childhood, you know." Ryan said.
It was Anya's turn to grin. "Yes, I suppose you did. And the pair of you were the terror of your mothers's lives."
"Like you?" he said, as the stopped walking.
"Me?" she asked innocently.
He stepped closer. "Try to deny it," he said as he reached out and ran his finger down the length of the braid that hung over her shoulder. "I can just see you, a kid in black pigtails, driving your mom crazy by falling into mud holes and cooking up weird stuff."
She shook her head, smiling. "Not me."
"Yes, you. I bet you coloured on the walls."
"I was a model child."
"You were a brat." His fingertips came to rest on her hip, and did a little dance there.
"I was a picture of sweetness."
"You swung from the ceiling fan,"
"I was sat quietly and coloured."
"You lie."
"I lie."
His eyes were smiling along with his lips as he moved a little closer. Closer, closer, closer-
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Ryan groaned and let go of her. He looked at his beeper and the look on his face betrayed his thoughts. I wonder if anyone would notice if I threw it into the ocean?
"What is it?" Anya asked.
"We got a DB on the Ocean Overlook. Let's go. Your kit is in my car right?"
"Yes," she said as they made their way up the beach.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
"So this is one of Miami's cliffs and ocean overlooks, huh?" Anya asked as she followed Ryan. After arriving and assessing the body, Horatio told her to help Ryan if she wanted to. They were heading toward the edge of the cliff.
"Yeah. Apparently, the vic's clothes were found twenty feet away." Ryan said, pointing to darker lumps on the ground. They walked towards the clothes and Anya put them in an evidence bag as Ryan stepped away to check a stain on a palm tree. She felt someone behind her, so she stood up and turned around.
"Hey Ry-" Anya started but was stopped short by the gun that was pointed at her face. She slowly raised her hands.
"Give me the bag." the man said in a gruff voice. Anya held on tighter.
"No," she began firmly, "this is evidence. I can't-"
"Give me the damn bag!" the man shouted, drawing attention to them.
Ryan, Horatio, Calleigh and Eric all had their guns drawn and aimed at the man. Horatio was the first to speak, and Ryan looked ready to kill."Sir, put down the gun and put your hands up."
"No way, man. And before you shoot me, I think you should know that this is a hairline trigger. I get shot, she gets shot." the man said, never taking his eyes off Anya.
To say that Anya was afraid was an understatement. She was shaking where she stood, but she refused to give over the evidence. 'What is it with people wanting to shoot me?!' she thought. 'Do I have a "Shoot Me" sign on my back?'
As the tension grew, the man again harshly asked for the clothes. How many times had he asked? She wasn't sure, but his persistent asking was annoying her."I am NEVER giving you these clothes, you idiot!" she yelled.
He took a step toward her and she involuntarily took a step back. Her right foot hit a small patch of loose rock, and she plunged downward. There was a moment of breathlessness as she fell, a moment of time where everything stopped: her heart, all sound, and any ability to move. When her elbow brushed against the side of the rock, Anya reached out with both hands to grasp the edge. The evidence bag slid down her arm and came to a rest at her shoulder. Her arms weren't strong enough to support her for very long, but she found a toehold for her left foot and held on as best as she could. She heard yelling, a couple of shots, and more yelling. She also heard her own heart beat, could hear the rush of the blood in her veins. Her elbow throbbed, but there was no way to see how bad it was at the moment.
She glanced down and what she saw made her look right back up. About fifty feet below her was the ocean, full of sharp rocks. She was really wishing she knew how to swim.She looked up and Ryan was there, his face thrust over the edge, his hands gripping her wrist. "Are you all right?" he asked quickly. Anya stared at his face, which was strangely pale and free of anger. In fact, he looked afraid, as if it was him that had fallen. "Jesus, will you answer me, Anya?!" he demanded even though he could see she wasn't hurt.
"Given the circumstances, I'm fine," she said, her voice sounding much calmer than she actually felt.
His grip at her wrist was too tight, but she wasn't about to ask him to loosen it. He didn't release her, but he did slide one hand down to almost her elbow. "Let go of the rock and grab my wrist." he instructed, nodding to her left hand. She looked up at him, her black hair blowing in her face. It took her a minute to work up the courage to let go, but Ryan was patient, merely nodding his head when she flexed her fingers. "It's all right," he said, his voice deep and peaceful, "I won't let you fall."
She knew that. When she looked into his amazing hazel eyes, she couldn't doubt Ryan's ability to hoist her from this situation. Quickly she let go of the rock and grabbed Ryan's wrist, wrapping her fingers tightly around the hard muscle. He nodded to her other hand, and she release her hold on it too. He effortlessly pulled her up, taking care not to bash her up too badly against the side of the cliff. He didn't say a word until she was on her feet, and he had moved her away from the ledge. When he did speak his words were even and emotionless, but he gripped her wrists tightly. "Don't you ever do that again."
"Do what?" she asked, her green, bright eyes showing her extreme confusion and discombobulation.He looked at her like she was insane, and the colour came back into his face, but he didn't remove his grip from her wrist. He looked as of he was about to answer, but instead let her go. "Are you hurt?" he asked, concern in his voice, and Anya rubbed her elbow. He took her arm, as if it would break, and examined it. It was red and Ryan moved her arm this way and that before he declared that she would have a nasty bruise, but it wasn't serious. Oddly enough, that seemed to make him angry again. "What were you thinking?!" he shouted. Anya started to back away, but he reached out and grabbed her arm, forcing her to stay in place. That move had gotten her in this mess.
"He asked for the evidence, and I told him 'no'." she said, as if it meant nothing.
"Next time," he began angrily, and the he calmed himself. "Next time, weather it's evidence or not, give him the bag." He took her arm and assisted her up the slope. "H is going to want to talk to you." At the top of the slope he released her, and Anya quickly pulled him into a hug. He was stiff for a moment, then he hugged her back. When she pulled away, he was smiling. "What was that for?" he asked.
"A thank you for saving me. I can't swim."
